For my bulletin board, I decided to really focus on gratitude towards self and others.

I tied this

bulletin board into one of the five lessons that we had to do as well. My lesson focused on a

language art writing that talked about what the students’ friends were grateful for them about. I

coupled the writing with self-portraits. I decided to have this be an interactive bulletin board

because it will be displayed while parent teacher conferences are in session. I designed the

display to show the student writings and self-portraits, but I numbered each piece of work instead

of having the students put their name on the front. I wanted to encourage the parents to really

look at the writing and self-portrait to see if they can find the work that is special to their student

either through the details of the picture and/or through the details of the writing.

I feel this idea enhanced the curriculum because the students not only learned about gratitude for

self and others, but they got to create something that can draw their parents or other family in. In

addition, the parents or other family really get an opportunity to look more closely at the work

that their student is doing and get some insight into how their student thinks others may view

them. I feel both aspects could possibly offer some quality discussions within the family. Plus,

the self-portraits will be cute to look back in the years to come to see how each student thought

they looked and to know what they were thinking when they were six!

I happened to just be finishing my display when a grandparent walked by and asked me about it.

I told her the concept but told her it only applied if she happened to have a grandchild in Mrs.

Parsons room. It turns out that she did have a grandchild in there. She looked at the display and

guessed which portrait she thought belonged to her grandchild. I helped her look it up in the key

and it turns out that she guessed correctly. She was thrilled and told me how clever she thought

the idea was. I was thrilled that I got to see someone enjoy my concept in real time! Below are

some pictures of the display.